RIP my beautiful Eenee--but can anyone shed any light as to why????

[juleeque]

My golden ameraucana Eenee (part of Eenee meenee minee mo) died tonight...if anyone could shed any light on what it might have been, or maybe what I could have done????
She laid an egg this am, nothing out of the norm there
Her crop wasn't overly full or soft
Her feet, comb, eyes, nose, vent were all normal
I even checked her to see if she has another egg in there and it was empty (but never done it before, I followed the tips from this
site and I didn't feel anything at all
She was perfectly fine yesterday and even this am, this afternoon, she was away from flock and moved and ate slow. I brought her
inside and put her in a lg tote but she wouldn't do anything, (eat, drink, walk)
I was holding her when she was almost dead, and she kinda...oozed....it was a bright yellow wet poop. I don't know if that was what they do right before they die, but it was bright yellow. Also right before she died she was having spasms. She flopped a couple last times and she was gone.

A few months ago, I had a buff with the same thing...one minute fine, the next dead. These were my first chickens, raised from day old chicks. I keep the coop clean, with clean hay, fresh water...even organic food. they free range. We are an organic farm and apiary, so we dont use pesticides, herbicides etc. either.
We do have black widows...although I don't think they would be out in 32 degree weather. So would it be a disease??? If so, what disease would take a healthy hen so fast? I check my hens well actually often each day, and I haven't seen anything to cause me to think anything was wrong.....

Should I sterilize coop? I have a mama in there with 4-2 wk old chicks. any light would be grateful, I don't want to loose any more of my girls.....

thx julee

 

[Eggcessive]

A necropsy done by your state or regional vet on her body, would be the best way to get a diagnosis. Bright yellow droppings is not normal, and can sometimes be a sign of E.coli infection, egg yolk peritonitis, and rarely, blackhead disease or histmoniasis, which is a disease rare in chickens, but common in turkeys. Blackhead disease is caused by cecal worms, so a vet may be able to test for them in your chickens.

 

[juleeque]

We live about 2 hrs from any state places to have a test done on her. If it could be blackhead, is that contagious? If it could be E.coli, what could that come from? If it is e.coli, should I destroy my eggs (that I sell)? And if I should destroy eggs, how far back should I destroy them?
Also, (she laid blue eggs) if an egg continued to get paler and paler, would that be a clue to an unhealthy hen?

 

[seminolewind]

Most chickens convulse at the point of death. Do you treat for worms? Those blue eggs do fade in color as a chicken gets older.
I have a link at the bottom of my posts for directions on how to send a bird for a necropsy.

It's hard to say if a chicken dies so quickly after looking well. It could be something poisonous, coccidiosis, enteritis, worms. How old was she and the other hen that died?

 

[Eggcessive]

We live about 2 hrs from any state places to have a test done on her. If it could be blackhead, is that contagious? If it could be E.coli, what could that come from? If it is e.coli, should I destroy my eggs (that I sell)? And if I should destroy eggs, how far back should I destroy them?
Also, (she laid blue eggs) if an egg continued to get paler and paler, would that be a clue to an unhealthy hen?

I would simply watch the droppings and the general well being of the others. You could also take in a fresh early morning sample containing both cecal and regular droppings from your other chickens to a local vet for a fecal float test, to look for cecal worms which are a precursor to blackhead. And, then you can worm everyone with Valbazen 1/2 ml orally, then repeat in 10 days. If they find cecal worms you can then treat with Fish Zole (metronidazole) 250mg daily for 5 days for blackhead, but blackhead is very rare in chickens. Fish Zole is easily found online. E.coli is present in all chickens, but a sick chicken may get an overgrowth that can cause widespread infection into the abdomen and air sacs, eventually killing the chicken. It shouldn't affect your healthy chickens unless they come down with egg yolk peritonitis or a respiratory disease, and then it is an opportunistic secondary disease. Don't worry about your eggs, just cook them as you would any raw egg.